Vetted by the vetsWe asked some top local toques for their picks for Boston’s most up-and-coming chefs. Here are their best bets.

Joanne Chang
of Flour and Myers + Chang “Asia Mei at Sam’s at Louis is killer. I overeat every time I’m at Sam’s because it’s so good. Mike Pagliarini at Giulia is amazing. His pastas are perfect, and for being one month old Giulia is so impressive. I’m obviously incredibly biased, but I’ve been so impressed with my own chef Karen Akunowicz! At M+C for just over a year, she’s really come into her own and added some wonderful dishes to the menu and made it so much better, I feel. Chris Parsons at Steel & Rye is terrific. His cooking is straight from the heart and always wonderful.”

Lydia Shire
of Towne Stove and Spirits and Scampo“Honestly — and this is without nepotism — my 22-year-old son, Alex Pineda. He’s ready to break out! He just returned from an apprenticeship in London and is currently helping me out at Scampo. Another to watch out for is Simon Restrepo, one of my chefs at Scampo.”

Review: Food, Inc. You are what you eat. And if you're like most Americans, you eat hamburgers made from cows who likely spent their lives crowded in fetid factory farms, ankle-deep in mud and excrement.

Review: Apsara Palace It's more than being loved by our mommy and being safe from barbarians from the North that we take for granted, isn't it? I found myself again and again going to Apsara Palace for lunch when I was in town, kind of a gastronomic migratory impulse, before it occurred to me to review the place and figure out what was so appealing.

Fall Preview: Get out...and play This issue is bursting with ways to amuse yourself this autumn — art, theater, books, TV, movies, food. We’ve rounded up a few more activities that defied such classic classifications — outdoor fun, mostly, but some suggestions for rainy days as well.

Review: Whaddapita Whaddapita is an indicator of our bright lunch-future. It brings to Mediterranean food the trend of giving upscale-fast-food treatment to regional cuisines, sort of like the BajaFresh chain did with Mexican.

11 Big Ideas for Rhode Island Rhode Island has problems. We all know it. Unemployment, political corruption, the Providence College basketball team.

Food co-op gets cash infusion, storefront space North Haven business maven and philanthropist Donald Sussman has donated space (five years, rent-free) and money ($40,000) to the Portland Food Cooperative (PFC), which will allow that organization to have its own distribution space and eventually operate as a public storefront.

Review: Cook & Brown Public House When a restaurant moves into a location that has seen several eatery incarnations, it must work doubly hard to establish its reputation, both around the state and in the neighborhood. Cook & Brown Public House seems to be accomplishing both with aplomb.

DIY DRINKING: HOUSE-MADE INGREDIENTS ARE RAISING THE BAR | March 12, 2013 "When I moved to Boston," UpStairs on the Square bar manager Augusto Lino explains, "it was uncommon for bars to have anything house-made beyond a large container of vodka filled with pineapple on the back bar."

FRESH BLOOD: MEET BOSTON’S NEW CULINARY MUSCLE | February 21, 2013 Whether behind the line of a critically acclaimed kitchen, holed up in a basement pumping out some of the best nosh in the city, or braving Boston’s pothole-filled roads to bring you ass-kicking bites, these chefs are fast becoming ones to watch.

THE STEEP ASCENT OF TEA CUVÉE | February 13, 2013 We've all been told that once upon a time, angry Bostonians dumped three shiploads of English tea in the harbor to protest taxes, but let's be real here — it was probably just really shitty tea, and they were doing what any of us would do when continually plied with subpar beverage choices.